Focus program students rock out with guitars of their own making

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Hollie Pratt-Campbell

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EMC News - Les Pauls. Gibsons. Fenders. All beautifully designed and crafted with expert quality. It's hard to believe they were made by local teenagers in KCVI's Guitar Building focus program, many of whom had little to no experience with woodworking at the beginning of the semester.

The students showed off the fruits of their labour Jan. 24 at a guitar show held at the downtown high school.

Teacher Gary Pattenden remarked that he is extremely proud of his students, as it's a lot of work for them to produce such high quality instruments.

"It's a real challenge to make something that quality level when you think of other subjects or other sorts of things (youth their age do)," he said. "To end up at this level is quite an accomplishment for them, and they have to be dedicated."

Many of the students, like Sean Patterson and Lydia Wilton, chose to make Les Paul style guitars.

"It's based off a really classic model that goes back to the '50s and '60s," said Sean. "I've been wanting to take this course for a while and this is what I've always wanted to make."

The students explained that they learned a lot from the program about wood, machinery, and of course guitars themselves.

"I had absolutely no experience when I started," said Lydia. "I didn't know how to use any of the machinery in the entire shop (other than) the basic drills and sanders."

Yet the process ended up being very rewarding, and something she very much enjoyed.

"I custom-carved the entire top of the guitar, and then the neck and the headstock," she says. "And I custom made a fret board all out of purple heart wood...Then it was really cool because I got to go out to Napanee District Secondary to their autobody program and use the airbrush to paint the guitar body,"

Being the lone girl in the program also made for a unique experience for Lydia.

"Honestly, it's been really great," she said. "All the guys are really great and they just treated me like one of the guys by the end of the program."

The course has also served as a source of inspiration for many of the students, like Jordan Brown and Marc Demeris, who are planning on starting their own business using the skills they learned.

"It's inspired me to actually go out and buy all the equipment I need so I can do this at home by myself," said Jordan, explaining that he and classmate Marc Demeris are planning on going through the Ontario government's student entrepreneurship program to start a custom guitar-making business over the summer.

Building their own guitars has also allowed the students - all musicians themselves - to gain a deeper understanding of the instrument.

"It feels really good because it's not like playing your other instruments," said Marc. "It's something you know inside and out."

"I think you feel like your playing has to have more emotion in it," added Lydia. "It has to be more meaningful if it's coming off this instrument that you've put so much work into, so it inspires you a little."

Pattenden notes that there are also many important secondary life lessons that students learn in such a program.

"Along the way you can experience a lot of challenges (and) mistakes that are made that cost you a lot of time," he continued. "But how do we overcome these mistakes or these errors or these things that occur to us? You somehow have to find a positive way through it, overcome it, and attempt it again and again."

"Yes they're building a guitar," he continued, "but all the life lessons that come out of it are what are most important for me. I just use the guitar building as a driver for them."

Pattenden said that students in this semesters' program came from eight different area schools to take part in the course, and noted that focus programs like this one are important for keeping students engaged in school.

"It's really nice to see the dynamic develop between the students and friendships they make," he said. "They come (from different) schools but they all have one thing in common: an instrument, playing a guitar. So they really feed off each other a lot, and learn from each other."




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